Caudill could lose job as top cop due to complaint

A Brown County police chief who is the target of a complaint by Aberdeen Mayor Jason Phillips has been fired in the county before, the I-Team has learned.

WCPO

Aberdeen Police Chief Greg Caudill

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ABERDEEN, Ohio – A Brown County police chief who is the target of a complaint by Aberdeen Mayor Jason Phillips has been fired in the county before, the I-Team has learned.

Phillips filed an official complaint Monday, accusing Aberdeen Police Chief Greg Caudill of not showing up for work since April 11.

Caudill turned in a doctor’s note earlier this month showing he was injured outside of work – but he has no sick time left.

Phillips' complaint could lead to Caudill’s termination.

Caudill, who has been a subject in multiple I-Team investigations, was fired in 2002 from his position as a Brown County sheriff’s deputy.

The I-Team uncovered documents showing Caudill was written up for another instance of tardiness when he was a sheriff’s deputy 12 years ago.

Brown County Sheriff Dwayne Wenninger wrote in a comment form in 2002 that Caudill took more days off than he had available to him.

“This is an abuse of sick time and it seems to have no end,” Wenninger wrote. “He has been counseled about this in the past.”

Caudill was later fired from the sheriff’s office when he revealed the identity of an undercover drug agent at Eastern High School.

Caudill was the school resource officer, and documents show he told a teacher that a girl in his class was really a narcotics agent.

“His lack of professional respect left a lot to be desired,” then Superintendent Christopher Burrows wrote in a letter after the incident. “The day he revealed (the agent’s identity) to me, I was immediately concerned about (her) safety.”

The agent told the I-Team she feared for her life. The operation was eventually canceled, and Caudill has since written on job applications that his reason for leaving the sheriff’s office was “explainable."

According to Ohio law, a mayor can file this complaint if he or she has reason to believe that a duly appointed marshal of the village is guilty of incompetency, inefficiency, dishonesty, drunkenness, immoral conduct, neglect of duty or any other acts of misfeasance.

Phillips alleges in his complaint that Caudill did not report to work since April because of "injuries occurred outside of (his) employment with the village of Aberdeen that have resulted in (him) neglecting (his) duties as chief."

He is also accused of not living in Aberdeen, which is a violation of Ohio law. Caudill lives more than 20 miles away in Adams County.

The former chief's wife was found hanged last August – a death ruled suicide by the Brown County coroner. But the department never gave the investigation to an outside agency, even though Caudill was inside his friend's home hours before the woman was found dead.